New trekking route to Machu Picchu

Hikers to Machu Picchu have a new alternative to the busy Inca Trail that includes the hot springs at Cocalmayo where three pools filled with medicinal water that gush from the bottom are one of the main attractions on the route. The adventure begins in Cusco; the first stop is at Santa Maria at 4,350 meters above sea level. On the second day, trekkers arrive to Cocalmayo where they relax at the hot springs and spend the night. The following day they will trek to Aguas Calientes, which is close to the Inca sanctuary. On the fourth day, the group will reach Machu Picchu at dawn. A few agencies offer packages that start at US$200.00, which include food, lodging, and fees to enter Machu Picchu.

Ayahuasca, a cultural heritage

The Peruvian National Institute of Culture (INC) has declared the knowledge and traditional uses of the Ayahuasca plant by the Amazon natives a National Cultural Heritage. The INC goal is to protect the traditional use and the sacred ritual character of the Ayahuasca from western use out of context and with commercial purpose.

The effects produced by the Ayahuasca (liana from the skies), which are different from the effects usually produced by hallucinogens, have been research extensively and are given in a limited cultural frame for religious and therapeutic reasons. For the natives in the Amazon it’s a gateway to the spiritual world and its secrets, their traditional medicine has been structured around the Ayahuasca ritual.

Olivia Newton John’s secret Inca wedding

According to the Herald Sun, the actress wed her new love, American health guru John Easterling, in private twice last June. They first married alone in an Incan spiritual ceremony on top of an Andean mountain in Cusco, Peru, and then they did it legally on a beach in Florida. They kept the events secret until a barbecue party on the 4th of July.

Baroque temples restored in the Colca Canyon

After ten years of detailed work, the Spanish International Cooperation for the Development Agency has finished the restoration of 10 baroque churches built in the XVII and XVIII centuries in the Colca Canyon, which will contribute to the protection of several exquisite art treasures that are kept in these temples since the colonial era.

With the contribution of the locals who were also trained in the restoration and maintenance of their heritage, these temples are now another tourist attraction in the Colca Canyon that benefits their community. More than 100,000 visitors come to the Colca Canyon every year, the second deepest in the world after Cotahuasi, 3,400 meters deep and 100 kilometers long.